Time seemed to have passed for a very long time, yet it also seemed as though only an instant had gone by.
At least, from Ivy’s perspective, her perception of the outside world had become completely distorted, and she had no idea how long her consciousness had been absent.
In her memory, the last thing she had seen was a flash of a blade—a blade light capable of distorting space and severing space itself. It was that breathtaking strike that had cut through her physical barrier and ended her life.
Ivy had not even felt any pain before her consciousness faded away.
Her final thought back then had been incredibly simple.
’Am I... going to die?’
In her mind, that was certain, wasn’t it?
Her entire body had been split in two, after all.
From head to toe, she had been cut cleanly down the middle, her body divided into two perfectly separated halves. If that didn’t kill her, then she would not have been human but a monster.
Because of that, Ivy was certain that she had died, and her consciousness had completely vanished.
Yet, at some unknown point, her awareness had gradually returned through a hazy fog, making her feel as though she were sinking into an invisible ocean, continuously descending toward a bottomless abyss beneath the sea.
And then, a hand reached into this sea of souls, attempting to pull her out of it.
"..."
At that moment, Ivy hesitated because she had a feeling that if she grabbed that hand, she would be able to return to her original world, return to where she belonged, and come back to life.
Yet that hand carried an aura that filled her with disgust, as though it had been the very same hand that had pushed her into this sea in the first place, causing her instincts to reject it.
However, if she refused to take that hand, she would never be able to return, would never be revived, and the faint consciousness she had only just regained would certainly disperse once more.
If that happened, she might truly die, never receiving a second chance.
In the end, with that thought in mind, the hesitation in Ivy’s heart was gradually replaced by an intense desire.
Honestly, there were still many things she wanted to do, so she did not want to die yet, nor did she wish to remain forever in this bottomless sea of death, endlessly sinking deeper and deeper into its depths.
Hence, Ivy cast aside her hesitation, suppressed her instinctive resistance, and with great difficulty reached out her hand to grasp the hand extended into the sea.
In the next instant, a tremendous force seized her and dragged her upward.
*Splash!*
Not long afterward, accompanied by the sound of water, the soul of the young woman named Ivy was pulled out of the sea of death.
At that moment, her hazy consciousness fully returned.
===
"Since you’re awake, open your eyes."
When that voice entered her ears, the first thing Ivy felt was not anything else but an overwhelming sense of weakness.
A feeling of exhaustion filled her entire body, giving her the strange impression of someone recovering from a serious illness and still unable to get out of bed.
"I’m only asking you to open your eyes. I didn’t tell you to move around. You know, that doesn’t take much effort."
Once again, that voice reached her ears.
"Quit playing dead and open your eyes already."
Hearing the rather irritating voice, Ivy finally stopped dwelling on the weakness coursing through her body and forced her eyes open.
In the next second, several figures entered her field of vision.
Standing at the front was none other than that hateful and arrogant young man.
"You’re pretty unlucky. It was my first time using that move, and I kinda couldn’t hold back properly, so you actually died once."
Riezel had already put away his sword and was casually playing with the jade branch in his hand while looking at her with an ambiguous smile.
"You’re also pretty lucky. I just happened to have an ability that could bring you back to life. Well, I hadn’t confirmed whether you were enemies or not, so even though you died once, I still brought you back to life."
As soon as Riezel finished speaking, Lizbeth, who was peeking out from behind him with a cautious expression, finally spoke up as well.
"A-Are you okay?"
Lizbeth asked timidly.
Seeing her, Ivy instinctively tried to sit up, only to discover that she had no strength whatsoever.
"You should save your energy."
Still casually toying with the jade branch, Riezel spoke in an indifferent tone.
"You’ve only just been revived. Right now, the vitality in your body is pretty much drained, making you weaker than you’ve ever been. Staying in bed for a while will do you some good."
Ivy had no desire to listen to such an insincere piece of advice, yet she had no choice but to obey.
Because she truly was weak and had no strength at all.
Even if she wanted to move, she could not.
Ultimately, after confirming that fact, Ivy reluctantly gave up resisting.
"...Where’s my companion?"
Only after a long while did she manage to ask the question with difficulty.
"Over there."
Riezel glanced to the side, causing Ivy to follow his gaze.
In the corner of the room lay the young man whom she had earlier called Leo, appearing to have fallen asleep.
Euryale was crouching in front of him, holding the twisted, curved sword that the young man had previously taken out and lightly poking him with it again and again, causing him to frown even in his sleep, as though he were experiencing some discomfort.
Seeing that, Ivy’s heart couldn’t help but leap into her throat.
Others might not know what that curved sword was, but she knew all too well.
It was an extremely dangerous mystical artifact.
If Leo were accidentally injured by it, the consequences would be disastrous.
Without her realizing it, every trace of her alarm and nervousness was captured by Riezel.
"Eury, bring it here."
Riezel immediately called out to Euryale.
"?"
Euryale tilted her head in confusion for a moment before standing up, running over to Riezel, and handing him the twisted, curved sword.
"Over Magic - All Appraisal Magic Item."
Riezel cast an appraisal spell on it and identified the effects of the curved sword.
In the next second, the sword’s name was revealed—it was called Cursekiller.
As the name implied, it was a magic sword that possessed the power to curse and kill.
Once someone was wounded by the magic sword, whether the injury struck a vital point or merely scratched a finger, the curse would activate immediately and bring death upon the victim.
Its curse-killing ability was so terrifying that even mystical artifacts designed to interfere with curses or abilities capable of nullifying curses could not completely escape its effects. At most, the only difference was whether the victim died sooner or later.
From that alone, it was obvious just how dangerous and terrifying the magic sword was. It was undoubtedly a forbidden weapon that could rank among the finest of magic items, far more dangerous than the curse weapons of the world of Danmachi.
’Good grief. An item with an instant-kill effect?’
Even Riezel had not expected the young man’s weapon to be something this dangerous and vicious.
If this weapon were placed in YGGDRASIL, it would be at least a Divine-Class Item and might even qualify as a World Item.
However, this mystical artifact had two major flaws.
First: It had to actually wound someone before its effect could activate. In other words, if it failed to hit its target, it was nothing more than a decoration.
Second: It made no distinction between friend and foe. Wounding others would curse them to death, but wounding oneself would curse the wielder to death as well. No one was exempt.
’Not bad. Pretty powerful.’
Since Riezel did not know whether his skills could resist the curse-killing power of Cursekiller, he decided to confiscate it.
Of course, he had not forgotten about Ivy’s jade tree branch either.
He cast another appraisal magic on it and soon obtained all the information regarding that mystical artifact.
Its true name was Divine Arcana.
According to the appraisal magic, it was a mystical artifact created from a branch of the Tree of Life combined with a Sage Stone.
Both materials originated from an ancient magic civilization.
Even within that civilization, they had been extraordinarily rare alchemical materials, and in the modern era, they had long since gone extinct and could no longer be found.
Its effects were equally astonishing.
In fact, it possessed six separate abilities.
First: It could counter the activation of all magic within the wielder’s field of vision.
Second: It could eliminate all magical interference affecting the wielder.
Third: It could greatly increase the power of the wielder’s magic.
Fourth: It could significantly reduce the conditions required to cast magic.
Fifth: It could reduce the wielder’s magical energy consumption.
Sixth: It could detect magic traps, magic barriers, and magical mechanisms within a certain range.
’It’s actually this powerful?’
Riezel’s eyes widened slightly as he realized that the effects of Divine Arcana were so extravagant that they practically dazzled him.
He was certain that this was the wand or staff every magician dreamed of obtaining. Its very existence was a miracle within the world of magic, a supreme mystical artifact among mystical artifacts.
An item like this was more valuable than any holy sword or magic sword to a magician.
Riezel immediately put it to the test and quickly obtained the result.
As for the other five abilities, he could not yet determine exactly how powerful they were, but the effect that increased the wielder’s magic power alone was already noticeably stronger than that of Morgan’s Ring.
Evidently, this was not only a World Item but also a super-rare ancient magic item capable of standing alongside Divine Meloe.
Upon realizing that, Riezel immediately stored away Divine Arcana without the slightest hesitation.
Needless to say, unlike Cursekiller, this was the kind of item that absolutely had to be confiscated. He could live without Cursekiller, but Divine Arcana was something he was determined to keep.
As a result, his mood improved considerably, and even the way he looked at Ivy became noticeably more ’kind and friendly.’
"Y-You... what are you planning to do?"
Unfortunately, the look in Riezel’s eyes appeared anything but friendly from Ivy’s perspective. No one knew what kind of conclusion the woman had reached, but she suddenly revealed a mixture of caution and fear.
"I-If you dare sell me into slavery, I’ll never forgive you, even if I die!"
Ivy had somehow jumped to that conclusion, which made Riezel’s eyebrow twitch slightly.
"Don’t wanna be sold as a slave, you say?" Riezel asked without bothering to explain. "In that case, answer a few questions honestly."
"What questions?"
Ivy asked reflexively.
Riezel immediately exchanged a glance with Lizbeth.
"Don’t ask questions back. Shouldn’t I be the one doing the questioning?" Riezel said indifferently as he looked at Ivy. "Answer me honestly. Were you sent by the Hidden Land?"
Ivy immediately fell silent.
Only after a long time did she finally speak in a cold voice.
"Yes... We were sent by the Hidden Land..."
Her simple words caused everyone present to fall silent.
For a long time, no one spoke.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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